От потопа до Вильна. Русская политика по отношению к Речи Посполитой в 1655 - 1656 гг

ENIn 1654 and 1655 the Commonwealth was attacked by Russia and Sweden, and at the end of 1655 its almost entire territory was divided between the aggressors. The Swedish armies occupied the majority of the Crown, and the Russians and the Ukrainian Cossacks, co-operating with them, seized practically the whole of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Ukraine. Remnants of the Polish army waged heavy defensive battles against the Cossacks, and after a failed campaign against Russia, Janusz Radziwiłł, the Grand Hetman of Lithuania, signed an agreement with Sweden in Kiejdany thus accepting the protection of Carolus Gustavus. At this time, basic significance for the further fate of the Commonwealth was ascribed to the Russian decision to end military operations against Poland and to attack Sweden. Upon the basis of Russian archival sources, the author conducted an in-depth analysis of the motives of this decision. A presentation of Polish-Russian relations in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1655-1656 and Russian foreign policy conceptions led to the conclusion that the anti-Swedish turnabout in Russian policy was caused by fears of growing Swedish influence in Eastern Europe, and particularly in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Ukraine, which Moscow regarded as perilous.